


Domino

by darthvair65, orphan_account



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Blood, F/M, Kinky sex, Piercings, Tattoos, piercing AU, piercing kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-10
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:13:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthvair65/pseuds/darthvair65, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of a boy and a girl, who by all rights would never have met if the boy hadn't had a spontaneous desire to get a piercing at stupid o'clock on a Saturday morning. This is a story about falling in love and the mistakes that we make during the fall – about the boy you drenched in beer and the girl you never saw coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Co-written with Jen/darthvair65! :) An Akuroku genderswap AU--Rox's a girl in this one. Started out as RP, and we got quite a bit... invested, you might say (THIS THING'S A FUCKIN MONSTER MAN), so we decided to post this as a fic! Thanks for the lovely beta-job to alovelysilence ♥!
> 
> More chapters to be added over time. There's quite a lot, so make sure you miss nothing.

Axel pulled the headphones out of his ears as he left the escalators on the fourth floor, surveying thoroughly from left to right, scanning for a shop called "Paine's Piercings," which Demyx had recommended to him. It was supposed to be a clean shop with trustworthy piercers and reasonable prices. Seeing it almost immediately – and pleased with himself that he'd found it, Axel allowed himself a grin as he walked towards it. Eyeing the flashy green neon sign appreciatively, he thought that yeah, this store was neat. The interior was generously large as he entered, various glass displays with different piercing jewelry catching his eyes easily. That there was no one else in the store didn't bother him - not many customers came in at 8:30 Saturday morning with the itch to get a piercing (least of all when they've never even had a single one) and surely a clerk would be around here somewhere, keen on decorating his skin with a bit of pretty metal. Last-minute ideas were the most fun there were to be had, and Axel, ever impulsive, wouldn't deny himself a piercing or perhaps two.

A security video in the back alerted the only employee to Axel's presence soon after he entered the shop. Roxas watched the video for a moment while she sipped her freshly brewed coffee; what sort of crazy ass came in at _8:30_ in the fucking morning? Half the time she wondered why Paine insisted on opening so damn early when the boss never came in until at least one in the afternoon - the honors of opening the shop always went to Roxas or Hayner. Still, at least the newcomer looked interesting; he was looking at all the displays curiously, like he wasn't sure what exactly he wanted, but Roxas didn't think she'd mind if he took forever deciding – judging by the black and white security tape he looked pretty hot.

Finally Roxas decided to go out and talk with him, see what the early bird out for metal wanted; she checked in the mirror to make sure she looked at least mostly awake before heading out. Eight of eleven piercings glinted back at her in the mirror, the majority of them in her ears aside from the bar in her eyebrow and the ring in her lip. Her short blonde hair wasn't even really styled yet, and hung across her forehead; eventually she'd put gel in it or something, but 8:30 in the morning was way too early for that. She'd always been told she looked like a boy, and never really felt like going out of her way to disprove that idea with really girly clothes or anything - she always felt like it made her small chest and narrow hips look a bit ridiculous. So Roxas went out into the main area to meet her prospective customer in slightly baggy jeans and her favorite shirt (from her first Sugarcult concert ages ago) and sat down behind the desk. "Good morning, early bird," she said, putting her coffee cup down on the counter. "What can I help you with?"

Axel's eyes were glued to a certain red piercing, shaped like a swirling flame. It was sorta extraordinary between all the normal star-, circle- or diamond-shaped ones; just the right sort of special - or flaming - for him. When there was a girl's voice behind him, he replied without turning around. "Dunno yet what I wanna get but I was thinking, perhaps my eyebrow," he said, still eyeing the flame-shaped piercing. He turned towards the desk, to where the voice seemed to come from. "But whatever it is, I don't want some boring..."

He trailed off when he saw who was sitting there. /Who/ was sitting there? He couldn't really tell and kept staring discreetly for a moment. It was certainly a human being (a tiny one at that) but when he tried to attribute the voice he'd just heard to this boy, he frowned. It didn't fit /at all/. Either someone was trying to mess with him by letting a kid watch the shop, or God really hated the person at that desk, putting them into an unfortunate body like that, whatever gender it was. Axel did feel kind of stupid for staring - he wasn't a superficial jackass, after all - but he wouldn't be Axel if he wasn't known for his asshole charm.

"...helix. Don't want some boring helix," he finished at last. Blue eyes only watched him calmly, and before Axel realised he'd opened his mouth, he was already speaking. "Say, I know kids making fun of you because your voice didn't break yet sure /sucks/, but skipping school to hang at a piercing studio's not really bright, is it?"

"Wow, you're a charmer," Roxas snorted. "That's a pretty dickish thing to say to the person who'll be holding the piercing gun, you know." Roxas put her coffee aside, raising her pierced eyebrow at the asshole in her shop now. "And I'm twenty-six, I haven't needed to skip school for four years, man."

"Well I can't help my natural charm, I guess." Axel had his eyebrows raised at the kid's back, still a little flabbergasted on the inside that he was supposed to be 26, an entire year older than him. For a moment, Axel imagined the kid at 18, fucking some faceless girl. He almost winced at the imagination; the girl must've felt like a pedophile for all he knew. Really, a 26-year-old body and a face looking like, what, mostly 18? Damn, that guy must've got it hard. But from what Axel could tell, he made up for it with his attitude. An attitude that made Axel grin.

Roxas got up out of her chair and stalked over to the case he was examining, opening it up. "So, Mr. No Boring Helix, these here are some of our more interesting ones for eyebrows, not that you really have much in the way of those," she said flippantly. "Any in particular you like?"

"As I'd like to keep my pretty face intact, I'll tone down on the charm a bit," he continued casually, following the guy to the case. "Yeah, actually there was one I thought was pretty hot." Kneeling before the display, he pointed to the middle. "This spiky flame-thing is legit."

Roxas nodded and plucked the preferred piercing from the box, examining it briefly. At least the guy had the good sense to back off when his face was in danger of unnecessary bruising. With a scrutinizing glance he decided that the piercing would suit him well. "Alright," Roxas said. "If you're sure about this one, we can get started. Sit down right over here," she said, indicating to a padded chair off to the side. When the redhead sat down, Roxas brought her equipment over. She cleaned the skin around his eyebrow and drew on a target point for the piercing, showing it to him in a small mirror. With his nod, Roxas set her tools on the table beside them. Then she realized something. "Are you a piercing virgin?"

"I'm sure as hell." Axel leaned back in the chair, surprised at how comfortable it was. He eyed the needles critically and with some distaste, not that he'd ever admit that. Piercing might be painful, but it was nothing against tattooing. Tattoos, now, were the real bitches. /That/ shit hurt. Still, he wasn't gonna admit that the piercing gun made him a little fidgety. First times and all that – and one of those needles looked awfully big.

"Hymen's all intact, buddy. All yours." Probably the first cherry that guy ever got to pop, Axel thought, being the jackass he was. He'd better keep that to himself, too. Smirking, he crossed his arms behind his head. "I'm not some nervous virgin concerning needles and shit, though, so I do have standards. Hope you'll fulfill 'em."

Roxas smirked at that. "I'll do my best. Glad you're not some nervous virgin though, those are the worst. Don't need to be cleaning up vomit this early in the morning, thanks."

"Can't possibly be worse than my first tattoo," Axel said. It was easy to imagine some nervous virgins puking but fortunately he was out of that league, so blondie had nothing to worry about. There was something in his stomach tightening – a little nervousness, but just a tiny bit – and whenever Axel got nervous, his mouth did all the work for him so he talked right up to the countdown. "That was pain, man. I mean I'm sure piercing can hurt like a bitch too, especially that weird shit some guys pull off when they've got their dicks pierced."

Roxas pinched the skin of Axel's eyebrow with a clamp to line up the markers she'd drawn, all while he was still chattering. She picked up the biggest needle and lined it up against the lower marker, ignoring his widened eyes and silent curse at the size. "On the count of three. One, two!" and on two she pushed the needle right through his skin, piercing the redhead's eyebrow quickly and efficiently.

The building tension was broken for Axel carelessly with a flash of surprise as the piercing spike of pain as the needle was being shoved through his flesh hit him full force. Axel tried his damnedest not to flinch but didn't quite succeed.

"Ow, fuck, you fucking dick, warn a man, would ya?" he muttered, cursing under his breath, ever the gentleman.

Roxas ignored him and left the needle in his eyebrow, watching carefully for blood. Some people didn't bleed at all when they got their eyebrow done, while others bled like they'd been stabbed. Sure enough, not two seconds later blood bloomed from behind the needle and Roxas gently pressed a cloth around the fresh wound to stop the bleeding. "Hold that for me, alright?"

When the initial shock wore off and he pressed the cloth to his eyebrow as instructed, there was an interesting, almost pleasant feeling flitting through his veins, something quick and hot, and uncontrollable. He lived for that feeling. With the cloth pressed to his eyebrow, Axel couldn't help his grin, hyped up on adrenaline. He grinned goofily at the blond, his temper changing with the blink of an eye. His brow hurt like a motherfucker but he couldn't care less; he felt like he'd just won the jackpot. Fuck, that was way more intense than any tattooing he'd done. "Is it always like this?"

Roxas snickered. "The rush? Hell yeah. And don't call me a dick," Roxas warned, flicking Axel's temple on the pierced side with her fingers. "Better to surprise you and get it over with. I know what you're feeling though, I have eleven piercings and three tattoos – just don't use that adrenaline and go do something stupid." Roxas turned back to her very chatty customer and pulled the cloth away for a moment. "Ah fuck, you're bleeding like a stuck pig. Hang on." Roxas got a fresh gauze pad and held it to the redhead's brow, trying to clot the wound. Once it had stopped bleeding, Roxas exchanged the needle for the jewelry he'd picked out, causing him to cringe. "That'll heal up soon though, I'd just need you to come back so I can make sure it's healing well. You ok with that?"

"My circulation is pretty damn awesome, just like my general fine self." Axel grinned up at blondie from the chair, squeezing the eye of the unconcerned side closed in an attempt to calm the throbbing waves of pain through his brow. "Sure, sure, I'm gonna come back. Hell, I am gonna come back. You popped my cherry, you think I'm gonna scram that quickly? Firsts are something special," Axel rambled, feeling the need to get air off his lungs. He inhaled, allowed himself to close his eyes. The tingling, light feeling in his chest just didn't want to stop. "For someone who threatened to butcher me, you sure know how to make another guy feel good. Almost better than sex, damn," he muttered.

"Almost," Roxas allowed, weighing the pros and cons of that comparison, "but not quite better than sex," she snickered, rising from her seat and stripping off her sterile gloves. "What, have I gotten you hooked on the adrenaline rush?" she asked. He was actually pretty cute, aside from his dickishness and attitude, and his talkative nature amused Roxas quite a bit. She imagined that he could talk forever and a day and never get tired of hearing his own voice - not even in a conceited way, just to fill the silence and amuse others. Roxas figured she could probably listen to him read the phone book and be satisfied listening to him speak. "Alright, well as long as you take care of that piercing and come back for me to check on it, you'll be just fine." She told the redhead the price for the piercing and her compliance, and beckoned him over to the cash register to pay up.

"Told ya, I'll definitely be back. You've had the honor of being my first, so I've memorized the piercing gun in your hand, and only in yours," Axel said. Then he waggled his eyebrows suggestively, vaguely thinking a second or two about what he was going to say next, but he hoped blondie was up for this kind of fun anyway; Axel liked his fun and, dick or no dick, blondie was amusing so far. "So only you can penetrate me, bud."

He was fully aware of the gayness he exuded but he didn't dwell on it too much. Leave it to other people to worry about tact or appropriateness; Axel wasn't the one for it.

"So anyway, what do I owe you for this fantastic foreplay?"

"Thirty dollars," Roxas said, snickering to herself and choosing to ignore the suggestiveness in his tone. He was probably just fucking around, and Roxas wasn't _that_ impressed with him yet. Let him come back, she thought, and see if he really is hooked.

"I'm honored," she snickered, taking the cash he offered her for the piercing. "Though I generally don't agree to foreplay unless I know the person's name, so what's yours?"

Axel raised an eyebrow at the snickering; seemed like his openness had been interpreted the wrong way. The guy was fun and amusing, but that was it. As far as Axel was concerned, the problem lay in an obvious shortage of breasts and a vagina. But he'd started it, so he'd go along with it, even if it was only being friendly. The guy had just asked his name and Axel figured there was nothing bad about it. Also, he couldn't go around throwing suggestive remarks at people and expect no one to be interested. He'd brought it on, so he had to deal with the consequences.

"Well my policy isn't as strict as yours, but a first-name basis is good so I can moan your name the next time." He grinned. This was getting more and more fun; mostly, people would tell him to fuck off or to shut up. It wasn't often that anyone went along with his stupidity (except Demyx perhaps). "You'd be my first, by the way." He didn't add 'my first boy.' "Well, whatever. It's Axel, as in the axe with an L. What's yours?"

"Roxas," she offered, taking a sip of her now lukewarm coffee and making a face at it. "Though if you start moaning my name the next time I have the piercing gun at your face I might think you have a problem. Try to keep your masochism to yourself, right Axel?" Roxas quipped. She didn't quite know what to make of 'you'd be my first,' other than his first piercer or whatever. "You're all set then," she said, getting a card with care instructions for the piercing out and handing it to him. "Try not to bleed out before you get home."

"Thanks," he said, taking the card and instructions from her. He flipped the instructions open to page through them briefly and then looked back to Roxas. "All right then, see you soon." He turned around and walked towards the entrance with a bit of a swagger in his step.

Roxas rolled her eyes and decided make herself a fresh pot of coffee since her first one was already cold. She definitely felt like she'd need it today, her head was pounding with the amount of snark that idiot was throwing.

Then Axel poked his head around the door and shouted, "Boring holes into people as profession doesn't exactly make you innocent either, sadist!" in what was probably the most good-natured way Roxas had ever been called that word.

She still chucked a stress ball from the counter at his head, which missed him as he proudly strutted away. _Jackass._


	2. ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mistaken identities and miscommunication are a recipe for disaster. But more on that later.

It was about a week later when Axel did show up at Roxas' shop again, thankfully not nearly as early so Roxas could effectively wake up with several doses of caffeine. She was reading this time when he came in, a pair of black-trimmed glasses perched on her nose as she poured over her mystery novel – one of the several Agatha Christie novels she kept in her small library. _Evil Under the Sun_ was one of her favorites. When she looked up Roxas almost didn't remember him, since she saw multitudes of people and body parts all day nearly every day, but his cocky grin and bright green eyes helped her remember. "Axel, right? Checking in on the helix?"

"Hey," Axel greeted the other boy with a grin. "The name's right, the rest isn't. Mr. Boring Helix, remember?" He brought his finger up to tap it against his unconcerned brow, indicating that he got his eyebrow pierced, not his ear.

The other boy looked a little more awake than last time, with some black glasses on, which made him look kinda nerdy. Still, Axel couldn't help a small smile at the sight; nerdy or not, the boy was _pretty_ \- in a feminine way. Axel remembered their almost-flirting last week and resolved to go a little slower this time. The boy was nice and he didn't want to hurt him by unnecessarily getting his hopes up.

"My mistake, I'll remember that later," Roxas said, putting her book in her lap. She beckoned him closer, and Axel leaned a bit over the counter so she could look at the eyebrow. It looked healthy and clean, like he'd been taking care of it well; the swelling was down, and the piercing looked really good on him. "It looks pretty good, you shouldn't have any issues with it. It suits you pretty well," she said, satisfied with her work.

"'Course it looks good, you think I would've gotten it otherwise?" He raised an eyebrow and grinned lopsidedly. "So I'm good? That's great. There was some strange stuff coming out the second or third day... kinda yellow-ish. At first I freaked, but mighty Google told me it's normal?" Now that he thought of it... it might've been written on the instructions Roxas had given him, too. He'd glanced over them once or twice, but ultimately he'd thrown them into the trash. Roxas probably didn't need to know that.

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's perfectly normal. Just keep it clean and keep your hands away from it. And there you go, with the piercing you look about five points cooler than before. Any plans for the next one?"

Axel thought he might've just detected two compliments; covering up his surprise, he feigned annoyance. "Hey hey, I was looking just fine before and cool enough, in fact. 'S not a smart move implying your customer looks uncool, man. But since I'm such a generous individual, I'll just let your slip-up slide." Leaning forward, he supported his weight with his arms on the counter. "Yeah, actually I've been thinking about getting another one. Or perhaps two."

Roxas had to fight back a laugh. Axel was quickly earning the nickname 'macho man' in her head. His asshole charm was almost - almost - endearing. "Alright then, what are you thinking of getting? Something on your ear? Nose? Tongue?"

"Weeeell, we've been over the ear part... tongue sounds nice, but's a bit much for the start. Nose looks kinda gay, I think. That's, like, for teenagers and virgins." Axel shrugged his shoulders. "I want one but I'm not sure yet. Last week was different... I wanted to get one, so I got one. Eyebrow piercing just seemed natural... looks good enough on my awesome eyebrows." He grinned a little haughtily; his eyebrows were his pride. "Why, what'd you think I should get?"

Roxas looked at him critically. "If you really think helixes are boring you could get a more unconventional part of your ear done, like the tragus or inner conch. Not many people get those. Or I could do your lip, since you're adamant about the nose making you gay and I don't know if I'd want to do dermal implants. Sparkling beauty marks wouldn't suit you, I don't think."

"Mmmmh, I dunno," Axel muttered. "I mean helixes aren't that boring..." Suddenly, he remembered something. "Hey, don't you have some sparkling jewelry on your ear? With your hair like that I can't really see it."

Roxas pulled her hair aside so Axel could see; she had an industrial piercing on the left and two orbitals, one per ear, then two sets of earrings on her lobes. "Any of them interest you?"

Axel laughed at the jewelry store the kid had hanging on that one ear _alone_. "You've got a shitload of stuff in there, I like it." Grinning, he reached up to trace the cartilage of his right ear with two fingers, tugging at it. "Hhhmm, ear it is then. I kinda dig your industrial... Would that look something great on me?" Always out fishing for compliments? Yep, name's Axel.

"Sure," Roxas nodded, envisioning the piercing in his ear. "Pick the right bar and it'll look even better." She tapped the glass in front of her where the industrial jewelry was set up. "Don't go with the red metal, it's tacky and you've already got way too much red going on."

"Oi, watch out," Axel said, playfully glaring at her. "You can never wear enough red. It's the color of love and passion and all that bull. Guess I'm no girl but don't girls like that stuff?" He shrugged, then looked at the jewelry laid out before him. "So no red, huh..."

"It was just my opinion as your piercer," Roxas shrugged. "If you really want red, do it, but the metal's not as high quality in the red and you might come up allergic. And most certainly you can wear too much red, no one wants to walk around looking like a giant carrot or tomato," she shot back just as playfully.

"Clearly you need to revise your set of tastes, man. You'll never be responsible if you bash the color red like that. At least leave pink alone or the girls'll be at your heels like little Satans," omniscient Axel, who of course knows it better, advised. Inwardly he thought to himself, 'if you even care about girls running after you.'

"I wasn't bashing the color red, man. It's a great color, very dynamic, and it does well on a lot of people. Pink, however, not so much. I really don't need girls running at my feet," Roxas shrugged.

Axel tried hard not to let out something that'd have Roxas running after him with a butcher knife or, at the very least, that'd let him deform Axel with a not so accidental slip of his piercing needle. "All riiiight then, no girls." There was a brief pause. Then Axel just couldn't help himself. "So rather boys, huh?"

Roxas gave Axel a sharp look and a raised, pierced eyebrow. What the fuck was this guy's deal? "Uh, yeah. I like guys. Nothing against girls, but . . . is there a problem?"

Axel didn't really know how to react appropriately; given this guy's open admitting of liking boys, he thought back to their almost-flirting and swallowed a bit. Roxas was kinda saying straight into his face "I'm a boy and I dig you." This was what he got for teasing people without thinking. Axel didn't like to admit it to himself but he was the one practically inviting Roxas into this. Well... As long as Roxas made no /real/ move he'd be fine, though.

"No issue there, Roxas," he tried to say it as light-heartedly as possible and threw a half-assed grin into the mix. "I'm just more into girls myself, so..."

Roxas nodded slowly, brows furrowed. No really, what the fuck was this all about? "Alright," Roxas said, clearing her throat, "now that we've both put our preferred sexuality out of the table I feel so much better." She rolled her eyes. "Did you want another piercing today, Axel?" she prompted.

"Uuuhmm, yeah," he muttered, faltering a little. He recovered quickly, however, and winked, faking excitement. Tact and appropriateness wasn't his forte, but never let it be said he wasn't smooth. "Yeeeeeaaah right the piercing! Industrial, wasn't it?" Looking back down to the display case, he surveyed the piercings, trying to find one to his liking.

Roxas shook her head, chuckling to herself. She didn't really get what that was all about, Axel pointing out his preference towards girls. Maybe he figured by her appearance she was a lesbian and wanted to pull it out of her by asking indirectly? Asshole charm, once again. "Maybe /you'd/ like the pink one," she teased, the corners of her mouth turning up. "I can get you a Hello Kitty charm to go with it, you'll have the girls fawning all over you."

He almost said 'or gay boys' under his breath, only barely refrained from doing so. His waggled his eyebrows at Roxas. "Or you," he said, teasingly. "Nah, gotta disappoint you; Hello Kitty ain't my style. I'm more into"-damn, he'd almost said 'flaming'-"red or colour-neutral style. Think a black one'd be good?"

"Aww, that's too bad," Roxas mock-whined. "I've always wanted someone to get the Hello Kitty piercing. Ah well. Pick your poison then, and I'll get the equipment ready."

"Hmmm, I think I'll just take the plain black one there," he said, pointing towards a plain black bar with pointed ends. "Too much colour fucks up the whole picture anyway. On my right ear, please."

Roxas nodded, taking the piercing out of the case; Axel went and sat down in the chair while she brought the equipment over, setting out her needles, jewelry and a cloth since she remembered he bled like a stuck pig. She cleaned his ear and marked out the spots for the piercing. Needle at the ready, she looked over at Axel. "When you're ready, man."

As soon as Axel sat down on the chair, a nervous feeling of anticipation began thrumming through his veins, swirling like sickness in his belly. "Perhaps this time you're gonna count properly." He chuckled a little, but kept eyeing the dreaded, massive needle cautiously. There was something exciting and scary in the act of waiting for this certain kind of pain that almost made him wobble back and forth on the chair like a hyperactive 4th grader. Managing to stay calm, he shot Roxas a nervous grin he couldn't keep down. Despite the anxiety, he was looking forward to the rush of excitement this would hopefully bring him. "Be gentle. Second time's almost as bad as the first."

Roxas shared his grin. "But this time you know what to expect. And don't worry, I'll take good care of you." This Axel, the one that sat in the chair waiting for her to pierce him, was adorable. She liked this one, thought he was very endearing. She'd get used to his other side eventually, but he was just /cute/. "You ready? I promise I'll go on three this time."

"If you don't..." Axel left the threat empty. It was safer being quiet for the moment when all coming out of his mouth would've been other teasing stuff somehow related to the word "moaning." Inwardly, he cursed himself for a moment. He'd gotten himself into this mess and really didn't need to make this worse. He took a deep breath and then, eyes glued to Roxas', and nodded. "On three, then."

Roxas felt her stomach lurch when Axel met her eyes; she swallowed thickly and started the countdown anyway, dutifully piercing Axel's ear on three. It was double the pain lancing through his ear this time to get the industrial fitted, and she could see it in Axel's wince before he started swearing. Roxas remembered nearly crying when she had hers done at seventeen, though it was mostly because her ear had bled profusely afterwards. Handing Axel paper towels to stem the blood flow, Roxas looked at the new piercing critically. "Looks good, I have to say."

"Oooow ow ow ow ow, fuck it's gotta look good," Axel said under his breath, grimacing at the pain spiking uncontrollably through the upper shell of his ear. Fuck, piercing wasn't such a pussy-business as he'd originally assumed. This was certainly no piece of candy to handle; the intensity of the pain was double and the piercing itself felt like needles oh so slowly boring a deep hole through his skin. He took a deep breath. His fingertips drummed against the armrest as Axel waited for the pain to subside a little. He distinctly felt something wet running down his hair, dripping onto his neck. A look into the mirror told him he was bleeding like he was being slaughtered; it set something free inside him, and soon he was feeling giddy, baring his teeth in a wide grin at himself in the mirror. "Damn, this makes me feel kinda badass," he admitted with a silly grin. He was beginning to think the excitement was transforming him into an idiot rather than a badass. His grin certainly looked the part.

"Jeeeeze, you really do bleed like a stuck pig," Roxas mused, mopping up the blood that trailed down his neck. A couple of paper towels and a cloth towel later, the blood flow seemed to have slowed enough that Axel could walk out without collapsing in a pool of it. His wide, silly grin was quite adorable, Roxas decided, and it transformed his face into something a lot more handsome and attractive than when he was trying to be cocky and badass. It was probably the rush of endorphins and or something like that, but Roxas found it very endearing. "Yeah, it looks kind of like a war wound," she snickered, wiping the remnants of blood from his skin with a warm, wet washcloth.

"Badass," Axel repeated, allowing Roxas to wash the blood off of his skin. He thought he ought to feel distinctly uncomfortable, having the other boy touch him like that, but he decided he shouldn't be this self-centered after all. If he was gonna go on thinking the boy wanted to eat him up like that, his mouth'd slip and he really didn't need that.

Despite his cautiousness, however, he couldn't help but notice that Roxas handled him with surprising care and that his touch was unusually soft. Maybe it was his imagination but his skin might've just tickled a bit.

"Makes me look all manly and debauched, I bet," he added, trying to shoo the silly thoughts away.

"No, more like you got in a fight and the other guy tried to bite your ear off," Roxas responded, chuckling. "It'll be fine, just don't mess with it more than necessary so it heals nice. If you tear this part of your ear you're screwed." Roxas held up a mirror for Axel to look at himself in. "What do you think?"

Turning his face slightly to the side and looking at his ear from the corner of his eye, Axel grinned sharply. "Yup, I'd fuck myself," he said proudly. "So all's fine." Then he laughed at the look in Roxas' face that clearly spoke of how much he thought him an incredible moron and shook his head, eyes returning to the mirror. "Nah, just joking. I think it's really neat; you did well and the piercing was the right choice."

Roxas couldn't help but laugh; if there was one thing Axel lacked it wasn't self confidence. The slightest bit of narcissism never really hurt in that. "Alright, you know the drill. Keep the wounds clean and come back next week so I can make sure it is healing well, ok? And read the directions on the care card, then you might not get that gross pus."

Axel grinned a grin that clearly said 'you got me there.' He took the cloth from Roxas' head and kept it pressed to his ear as he rose from the chair. "Same day, next week then? You gonna be there or should I just go to someone else when you're not here?" He cocked his head to the side. "It doesn't actually matter who controls, so..."

Roxas nodded, tilting her head from side to side as if she was contemplating being here or not. "Yeah, I'll be here. If I'm busy, ask someone else to check it for you, that shouldn't be a problem. Let me know if you're going to want another piercing though, because I'll definitely be able to squeeze you in."

"Say, are you getting promoted or stuff for repeatedly piercing the same customer?" Axel asked, unable to withhold a snigger. "Cause I'd say if you do you're pretty damn lucky having found me."

"No, not quite," Roxas said, shaking her head. "On one hand I'm saving you from my boss and coworker, who'd probably have kicked you a few times by now, and on the other I'd like to open my own shop some day, so it helps when you have a clientele who knows you and the kind of work you do."

"Well if you'll get your own store I'll certainly come to you then, less chance of getting my ass kicked and all." Axel snorted. "Are they that terrible or am I?" Inwardly he thought that Roxas just wanted him all for himself; that was probably the reason he said that stuff about his coworkers.

"Nah, you're not that bad. Paine is however far more likely to kick your ass just because she can though. As far as sadism goes she makes me seem harmless."

"Yeah, sadism fits girls pretty well." A grin. "My ex was one... Fuck, she was a living nightmare. Even worse than Voldemort. Yes, this is possible. I've been there; seen it. Though, a woman named after 'pain' shouldn't be messed with, eh?"

Check one for a possible Harry Potter nerd, Roxas thought to herself with a secretive grin. "Nope, definitely a good idea to steer clear of her, Paine's not afraid to make you bleed. But hey, the 'ex' is always a good thing. Now you don't have to deal with her."

"Thank all the deities I don't." Axel nodded in enthusiasm and let his face grimace at the thought of Larxene. "I tell you, /some/ girls..." Raising his eyebrows, Axel looked at Roxas with an all-knowing gleam in his eyes. "Would tell ya to stay clear of those but you don't have that particular problem."

"Nope, can't say I do," Roxas said, cleaning the piercing gun leisurely. "I dated one briefly in college though, and I'm really glad to not be with her anymore. She got off on the craziest stuff," Roxas shook her head, trailing off.

"Huh." For a while, Axel watched the way Roxas' hand held the sterilizing cloths as she cleaned her needles; it appeared to be a decidedly feminine gesture, once more confirming Axel's suspicions. There was an urgent question waiting to be asked, and Axel had a hard time refusing his own curiosity. He had no issue with people who preferred their own gender; he just couldn't understand the appeal about it. "So what do you like more about being with a guy than a girl? Aside from the obvious parts," he added, referring to physical differences.

"Women are more adventurous," Roxas said after a moment of consideration. "I like people who are willing to try different things with me, and guys aren't always like that - they're more concerned with protecting their masculinity or some shit. It's hard to explain, liking men more than women - I can't even say I do, I just kind of go along with who I'm attracted to. And it just so happens that I tend to be more attracted to guys. Obvious parts aside, of course," she smirked, thinking of various situations and advantages to both sexes.

Judging from Roxas' description of women and the way he preferred open-minded people, Axel almost thought that women suited him better, after all. He didn't really seem fond of his own gender and appeared to be a little unwilling (resigned, at least) at how he just couldn't help being attracted to men anyway. Which really sucked, Axel concluded. If he thought little of men in general but his stupid brain and dick virtually told him to shut the fuck up, that he had no choice in the matter - Axel'd probably be pissed off, too.

"Well, each to their own, I guess." He shrugged his shoulders. "Guys can be cool, sure, but I can't see myself kissing another guy, like, _at all_."

Roxas frowned slightly, feeling like she'd been misunderstood. "Look, it's not like I don't actually like guys, it's just harder to explain to someone who is clearly not in my head why I like one over the other. Could you explain why you prefer any sex to someone else? If I like a person I go for it, it doesn't matter to me if they've got a dick or not." Roxas shrugged then, just wanting to drop the subject with him. "Like you said, to each their own."

Axel didn't appreciate the feeling that suddenly welled up in his stomach. Sure he could be insensitive and easily inconsiderate but he wasn't some superficial, brutish jackass, which Roxas' opinion made him feel like. There'd been an incident, once, and Axel had indeed tried something with a boy; or, he'd _tried_ to try and just hadn't been able to work up the nerve. On some level, he even envied Roxas' attitude since he wasn't reducing potential partners to their sex organs. Axel sort of wished it came that easily to him as it came to Roxas...

"That's good, kid," Axel said honestly. "If more people were like you, there'd be fewer problems."

"Thanks," Roxas said a moment later, genuinely thankful. "I appreciate that." Something in her chest welled up uncomfortably, but she pushed that away. "And don't call me 'kid,'" she teased, "I am older than you, remember?"

"You're older," Axel agreed, grateful for the chance to lighten things up a little. Having heart-to-hearts with practical strangers wasn't much his scene. He snorted, then grinned. "One of Snow White's seven dwarfs... Old and tiny. And mighty dangerous with your axe disguised as piercing needle."

"HA! I'd rather be tiny than freakishly tall, though I'm really not that short. I'm five and a half feet man, cut me some slack."

"There anyone particular you're referring to? Cause it's not just my body size I'm so generously endowed with," Axel said snarkily, waggling his eyebrows. "Dunno if you got so lucky."

"Uh, wow, that's kind of forward of you," Roxas snorted after staring at him for a moment wondering 'Is this guy for real?!' "If you're advertising you better be prepared to back it up," she said, her face turning red. Axel had basically just openly said he was hung, and after all their other conversations Roxas was confused but ready to look and see for herself.

Was Roxas for /real/? Axel'd never met a guy before who got off on having his dick insulted. 'You didn't get so lucky' was a synonym for 'bet your dick is as small as you are,' and even if it was in fun, most guys didn't... basically tell Axel they wanted a look at what was inside his pants. Either one of them was terribly stupid and misinterpreted /all/ the things or Roxas was just that kind of bastard who'd picked up on Axel's uneasiness with having a guy coming onto him and wanted to exploit it totally to pay Axel back for being such a douche. Not thinking long about it, Axel decided that the later was probably the case as it fit his impression of 'Roxas the sadist'. Darkly, Axel thought Roxas was indeed the bullying sadist type.

But if Roxas could play the game, he could play it ten times better. "I can back it up all you like, but I'm not so sure if your tiny self can handle all of me," he retorted without hesitation. If this was a game and no real interest of Roxas' side involved, Axel could be cheek and flirt without any qualms.

"On second thought, please don't expose yourself. You might scare away my potential customers," Roxas retorted, shaking her head and laughing. This was too good. Maybe she'd ask him out anyway, despite her misgivings; no one had made her laugh as hard as he in a while. "Keep your pants on, leave show and tell for after business hours, ok? I was only kidding with you. It's not every day someone asks how well-endowed you are after all, come on," she said with an outright laugh.

"Already backing off, aren't you?" Axel smirked at the blond's response, mind singing 'liar, liar,' as Roxas tried to talk himself out of it. "Probably better for your unlucky self; you'd have hell of a lot competitors if everyone saw this, shorty."

"Someone's overconfident," Roxas drawled, getting up with her piercing supplies and walking away.

The grin at Roxas' retreat almost split Axel's face in half. This was actually fun, flirting with a boy. He always needed to watch out for the invisible boundaries girls built up, expecting him to know how far he could go and how far not, with the result that he quickly and easily exaggerated. Roxas, however, was way more laid-back than girls. He could be as arrogant as he wanted to be and not get a glare or a hand to the face as result but snarky retorts that just made it more intriguing. If there only wasn't this stupid problem of genitalia...

Oh, but fun was still fun.

"Or someone just doesn't stand for what's being said," he said loudly, hoping to make Roxas hear. After that, he got up and left the shop, feeling amused and entertained as he hadn't felt in a long time.

Wow, what a douche, Roxas thought angrily as he disappeared around the corner. The bastard hadn't paid her for the piercing. _Dick,_ she growled to herself. Paine was going to kill her.


End file.
